Chapter 3
"Morning son" Daniel said bluntly.
"Hmmph" he muttered. He was never a good morning person. He didn't say much until he had his breakfast. He rubbed his eyes, yawned and stretched his arms above his head. He then filled the kettle to make some coffee. He sat down again, opposite his dad at the round breakfast table in the kitchen. He just had his pajama bottoms on with his favourite red bath robe wrapped around him.
"You weren't very talkative last night. You know it doesn't make it very easy on poor Sandy when you're like that Hawk" Daniel said sternly about his attitude the night before.
Hawkeye glared at him over the piece of bacon on the end of his fork. He sniffed it then proceeded to eat it. Calmly he put his fork down, folded his arms and replied;
"What Dad? What have I done now? I was perfectly pleasant last night, I had no need to be bitter. Sorry if I wasn't as chirpy as YOU were last night! I don't' make it easy on Sandy. Well, I do apologize, for not cooperating while everyone tries to save me from myself!" Hawkeye's rage got louder as he neared the end of it. Daniel just sat there looking at his son in the eye. Hawkeye went to push his chair back.
"Sit back down NOW" Daniel spoke to him as if he were 12 again. "Now I know something is bothering you, but I don't know what it is. Maybe you should just tell someone and then you will feel a whole lot better. You always used to be the expert on 'making people open up, telling them that they cant keep their emotions locked up' and look at yourself. Sandy is NOT trying to save you. She cares a lot for you Benjamin Franklin so don't' push her away."
"Why? Because she's the only one that cares?"
"Don't be stupid son, you know that I care for you more than anything. Just let us help you get through this hard time. Why cant you tell us what's wrong? That way we can better understand."
"You will never understand. No one will ever understand my problem. I can think of only a few people that could but they are miles away" Hawkeye said with pain evident in his voice.
"BJ rings for you all the time, but you never want to talk" Daniel stated. Daniel had answered the phone many times only to have Hawkeye say "Tell him I'm not home". Or even when he did talk to BJ he was very short, cool even. Hawkeye left the room after his fathers last comment. Once again Daniel was left feeling helpless at the table, which seemed to be the place of many of their arguments of late.
It saddened the elder Pierce man immensely that they had grown miles apart. They had always been so close he thought. They seemed closer when he was thousands of miles away in Korea than he did now, sitting in the same room. They never used to fight like this. The only time they would fight would be about curfews when Hawkeye was in school or watching his manners at the table. Daniel was ready to give up all hope and accept that the son he knew so well had been left behind in Korea. He would eventually have to let go and acknowledge the son he had become.
Hawkeye trudged up the creaky stairs and walked down the hall to his bedroom. It had always been his room. His mother had decorated it in rich greens, blues and reds. The room was quite large. Since he was old enough to have a bed, he had been indulged with a beautiful mahogany queen size bed with matching side tables. The patchwork quilt, which covered the bed was made by his mother, as were the curtains. This bed had been through so much with him. He cried for hours on end when his mother died under the quilt, he cried himself to sleep, he lost his virginity, he had his last night before going to Korea in this bed, he had his first night back from Korea. He lay down on the bed, still in his pajamas and dressing gown and stared up at the ceiling. He was so mad, but he didn't know why. He wasn't angry with his father, he just didn't like being reprimanded for his behavior. And why did he behave that way? He cared for Sandy as well. He was becoming more frustrated as the thoughts wandered in circles through his mind. He couldn't reason with himself. He rolled off the bed, went to the bathroom and got in the shower. The thoughts were still attacking him. He thought of Margaret immediately. It would be nice to see her familiar face again, hear her voice. He had no idea where she was, and didn't really have the self-confidence to call her. That's what he needed. He needed to see a person who could understand what he had been through. He needed to speak with someone who had been through as much hell as he had.
He walked downstairs dressed in his jeans and a red shirt untucked. His dad was reading through some of his paper work before work in the study when Hawkeye entered. He didn't say anything he just stood in the doorway. Without turning around, Daniel sensed his son was standing behind him.
"What is it Hawk?" Daniel said hinting some impatience. He didn't want a repeat of this morning's performance.
"I think I'll go and have lunch with Sandy later. I think I owe it to her after last night." Hawkeye solemnly replied.
"Well that would be really nice, I think she'd really like that. She cares a lot for you Hawk, let her care, ok? What are you going to do with yourself this morning. I'm leaving in 5 minutes."
"I think I'll just hang here this morning. I'll read over those job offers and have a good think"
Hawkeye seemed to spend copious amounts of his time thinking and in the six months since the war he hadn't got very far. Every now and then he would help out at his fathers practice.
"Ok, well I'll leave you to it. Have a nice lunch. Will I see you for dinner."
"Yeah, see you later dad" Hawkeye said with his hands in his pockets while he opened the door for his father.
Margaret woke up after a fairly restless night sleep. All her insecurities seemed to come flooding back to her in her sleep. She got out of bed and got dressed to go down to breakfast. The motel was on the main road through crabapple cove and the restaurant was obviously a popular spot for the locals to have breakfast. It was quite busy with people walking in and out and the waitresses were busy ferrying the food out to the customers. Betsy welcomed her with a big friendly grin.
"Morning dear, did you sleep well?"
"Yes thank you" She lied through her beautiful smile.
"Well here is a table, and here is the menu, just give me or one my girls a wave and they will gladly take your order" Betsy hurried off to the kitchen to bring out more food. Margaret sat in a table in the corner, which she thought was ideal. This way all the locals wouldn't start to question who the outsider was. She skimmed her blue eyes over the menu. One of Betsy's daughters smiled at her over her menu.
"Hello, cant say that you look familiar, but welcome to crabapple cove. Now what can I get you" She smiled at Margaret, but it didn't comfort her. She wished they were rude to her, therefore reducing the chance of asking her why she was there. Margaret was praying that they didn't ask her.
"Thankyou, I'll just have the scrambled eggs" she replied to the young girl who looked to be in her early twenties.
She sat there looking around her, listening absently to the conversations surrounding her. The waitresses were not very busy and were standing around gossiping at the counter behind her. The name of Pierce was mentioned and Margaret's ears were suddenly alert and listening intently. Her heart began to race.
"So Mary, how was your date with crabapple cove's most eligible bachelor" one of the girls asked excitedly.
"It was fantastic. I'm so grateful to mum for setting the whole thing up. Hawkeye was so sweet. He took me out to dinner in Portland and then we went dancing and then."
"And then what Mary?" "Well", Mary paused as the other girls giggled in suspense, "we went back to his place and had a lovely, no should I say, unbelievable time in front of the fire"
Margaret's heart felt like it had stopped beating. The younger girls behind the counter were giggling loudly now. Margaret sat there is silence, staring ahead before lowering her eyes into her lap. She felt pin pricks behind her eyes and breathed in deeply to make them go away like she had so many times before. She was successful. The same waitress interrupted her again,
"Here you go ma'am" and she quickly raced behind the counter so she wouldn't miss a beat of the conversation.
"So when is the next date Mary?", the waitress serving Margaret asked.
"Well he said he would call me, so I'm just waiting now", Mary replied this time with more excitement in her voice.
"OH you're so lucky Mary, just imagine you and THE Hawkeye Pierce, settling down together. Oh how sweet!", the girls continued to giggle. Mary walked out from the counter and Margaret watched her. She was young, around 25 she suspected, fairly tall with long blonde hair and brown eyes.
"Okay, girls break it up" Margaret heard Betsy say behind the counter. Betsy started talking with her daughter Jemima. "Now Jemima, I hope you girls weren't gossiping again about Dr Pierce. You know he is a very troubled man these days. I think Mary should watch herself, I don't think Hawkeye is exactly as easy going as he used to be. I know I wouldn't want you or your sister going out with him. As for settling down, I don't think that's possible. It would take one heck of a woman to con Hawkeye Pierce into holy matrimony. He used to be a lovely kid, he still is in many ways, but he's not the same as he used to be. I predict that poor Mary is going to be heartbroken. Hawkeye isn't interested in her, she was just a bit of fun dear, a fun ride, pardon the expression.
Margaret couldn't help but smile at Betsy's hypocrisy and honesty at the same time. How funny she thought it was that she reprimanded her employees for gossiping when she did exactly the same thing. Margaret couldn't understand why she was hurt by what the girls had said. At the same time she was relieved that he wasn't married or settling down. She knew that this Mary girl was purely for sex, as some of the nurses were at the 4077th. More so she was surprised at what Betsy had said about Hawkeye's personality.
It was time to start thinking about how to approach Hawkeye. Should she just ask where the Pierce residence is or should she just hope to run into Hawkeye at the local shops. She finished her breakfast and made her way back to her room. She needed to wear something nice, something that would get a reaction from Hawkeye. She burrowed into her suitcase and pulled out a chocolate brown suede skirt, with a pink shirt and matching brown jacket. She wore some black low high heels, brushed her hair and left it out and placed the matching soft hat on her head. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and decided it was a cute outfit considering it was winter and it was harder to look beautiful when you were all rugged up. She left the motel, not really knowing how she was going to do this. She was excited and nervous at the same time. She walked out along the pavement and down the main road. For a small town, it had quite a few shops, obviously all owned by locals. The town had everything you would ever need. No wonder people never left she thought. It was how she had pictured the dream like town. It was like one of those towns in the movies. Where everyone says hello and how are you. The shops lined the main street, whilst a few roads led to the wharves behind the shops and the beach. The beach had its own beauty as well. She could picture Hawkeye playing there as a young child with no worries in the world. As she walked along, some of the towns people looked at her funny, measuring her up, trying to identify who this beautiful blonde was. She kept walking down the street, and the row of shops ended. Next to the post office was small wooden cottage, very neatly presented in a shade of turquoise. A short pathway led to a few steps and up onto a small porch. The sign positioned on the small rectangle of green grass at the front read:
General Practitioner Dr. D. Pierce And then in smaller font underneath:
Afterhours: 18 Poplars Street Crabapple Cove Ph: 450 229
That must be their home residence Margaret thought. She walked back down to the motel to her room and looked at the map on the bedside table. Her heart was once again pounding. She couldn't believe she was just standing in front of Hawkeye's dad's surgery. She looked at the map carefully, trying to pin point Poplars Street. It was a winding road, which went up the peninsular and around the headland. It was a dead end and a very private street. According to the map it would take her approximately 20 minutes to walk up there. She put the map down, grabbed her bag and made her way up to 18 Poplars Street, Crabapple Cove.
NB: I know that wasn't the greatest chapter but I needed something in the middle if you know what I mean. Please continue to R & R! Chapter 4 should be up soon!
"Morning son" Daniel said bluntly.
"Hmmph" he muttered. He was never a good morning person. He didn't say much until he had his breakfast. He rubbed his eyes, yawned and stretched his arms above his head. He then filled the kettle to make some coffee. He sat down again, opposite his dad at the round breakfast table in the kitchen. He just had his pajama bottoms on with his favourite red bath robe wrapped around him.
"You weren't very talkative last night. You know it doesn't make it very easy on poor Sandy when you're like that Hawk" Daniel said sternly about his attitude the night before.
Hawkeye glared at him over the piece of bacon on the end of his fork. He sniffed it then proceeded to eat it. Calmly he put his fork down, folded his arms and replied;
"What Dad? What have I done now? I was perfectly pleasant last night, I had no need to be bitter. Sorry if I wasn't as chirpy as YOU were last night! I don't' make it easy on Sandy. Well, I do apologize, for not cooperating while everyone tries to save me from myself!" Hawkeye's rage got louder as he neared the end of it. Daniel just sat there looking at his son in the eye. Hawkeye went to push his chair back.
"Sit back down NOW" Daniel spoke to him as if he were 12 again. "Now I know something is bothering you, but I don't know what it is. Maybe you should just tell someone and then you will feel a whole lot better. You always used to be the expert on 'making people open up, telling them that they cant keep their emotions locked up' and look at yourself. Sandy is NOT trying to save you. She cares a lot for you Benjamin Franklin so don't' push her away."
"Why? Because she's the only one that cares?"
"Don't be stupid son, you know that I care for you more than anything. Just let us help you get through this hard time. Why cant you tell us what's wrong? That way we can better understand."
"You will never understand. No one will ever understand my problem. I can think of only a few people that could but they are miles away" Hawkeye said with pain evident in his voice.
"BJ rings for you all the time, but you never want to talk" Daniel stated. Daniel had answered the phone many times only to have Hawkeye say "Tell him I'm not home". Or even when he did talk to BJ he was very short, cool even. Hawkeye left the room after his fathers last comment. Once again Daniel was left feeling helpless at the table, which seemed to be the place of many of their arguments of late.
It saddened the elder Pierce man immensely that they had grown miles apart. They had always been so close he thought. They seemed closer when he was thousands of miles away in Korea than he did now, sitting in the same room. They never used to fight like this. The only time they would fight would be about curfews when Hawkeye was in school or watching his manners at the table. Daniel was ready to give up all hope and accept that the son he knew so well had been left behind in Korea. He would eventually have to let go and acknowledge the son he had become.
Hawkeye trudged up the creaky stairs and walked down the hall to his bedroom. It had always been his room. His mother had decorated it in rich greens, blues and reds. The room was quite large. Since he was old enough to have a bed, he had been indulged with a beautiful mahogany queen size bed with matching side tables. The patchwork quilt, which covered the bed was made by his mother, as were the curtains. This bed had been through so much with him. He cried for hours on end when his mother died under the quilt, he cried himself to sleep, he lost his virginity, he had his last night before going to Korea in this bed, he had his first night back from Korea. He lay down on the bed, still in his pajamas and dressing gown and stared up at the ceiling. He was so mad, but he didn't know why. He wasn't angry with his father, he just didn't like being reprimanded for his behavior. And why did he behave that way? He cared for Sandy as well. He was becoming more frustrated as the thoughts wandered in circles through his mind. He couldn't reason with himself. He rolled off the bed, went to the bathroom and got in the shower. The thoughts were still attacking him. He thought of Margaret immediately. It would be nice to see her familiar face again, hear her voice. He had no idea where she was, and didn't really have the self-confidence to call her. That's what he needed. He needed to see a person who could understand what he had been through. He needed to speak with someone who had been through as much hell as he had.
He walked downstairs dressed in his jeans and a red shirt untucked. His dad was reading through some of his paper work before work in the study when Hawkeye entered. He didn't say anything he just stood in the doorway. Without turning around, Daniel sensed his son was standing behind him.
"What is it Hawk?" Daniel said hinting some impatience. He didn't want a repeat of this morning's performance.
"I think I'll go and have lunch with Sandy later. I think I owe it to her after last night." Hawkeye solemnly replied.
"Well that would be really nice, I think she'd really like that. She cares a lot for you Hawk, let her care, ok? What are you going to do with yourself this morning. I'm leaving in 5 minutes."
"I think I'll just hang here this morning. I'll read over those job offers and have a good think"
Hawkeye seemed to spend copious amounts of his time thinking and in the six months since the war he hadn't got very far. Every now and then he would help out at his fathers practice.
"Ok, well I'll leave you to it. Have a nice lunch. Will I see you for dinner."
"Yeah, see you later dad" Hawkeye said with his hands in his pockets while he opened the door for his father.
Margaret woke up after a fairly restless night sleep. All her insecurities seemed to come flooding back to her in her sleep. She got out of bed and got dressed to go down to breakfast. The motel was on the main road through crabapple cove and the restaurant was obviously a popular spot for the locals to have breakfast. It was quite busy with people walking in and out and the waitresses were busy ferrying the food out to the customers. Betsy welcomed her with a big friendly grin.
"Morning dear, did you sleep well?"
"Yes thank you" She lied through her beautiful smile.
"Well here is a table, and here is the menu, just give me or one my girls a wave and they will gladly take your order" Betsy hurried off to the kitchen to bring out more food. Margaret sat in a table in the corner, which she thought was ideal. This way all the locals wouldn't start to question who the outsider was. She skimmed her blue eyes over the menu. One of Betsy's daughters smiled at her over her menu.
"Hello, cant say that you look familiar, but welcome to crabapple cove. Now what can I get you" She smiled at Margaret, but it didn't comfort her. She wished they were rude to her, therefore reducing the chance of asking her why she was there. Margaret was praying that they didn't ask her.
"Thankyou, I'll just have the scrambled eggs" she replied to the young girl who looked to be in her early twenties.
She sat there looking around her, listening absently to the conversations surrounding her. The waitresses were not very busy and were standing around gossiping at the counter behind her. The name of Pierce was mentioned and Margaret's ears were suddenly alert and listening intently. Her heart began to race.
"So Mary, how was your date with crabapple cove's most eligible bachelor" one of the girls asked excitedly.
"It was fantastic. I'm so grateful to mum for setting the whole thing up. Hawkeye was so sweet. He took me out to dinner in Portland and then we went dancing and then."
"And then what Mary?" "Well", Mary paused as the other girls giggled in suspense, "we went back to his place and had a lovely, no should I say, unbelievable time in front of the fire"
Margaret's heart felt like it had stopped beating. The younger girls behind the counter were giggling loudly now. Margaret sat there is silence, staring ahead before lowering her eyes into her lap. She felt pin pricks behind her eyes and breathed in deeply to make them go away like she had so many times before. She was successful. The same waitress interrupted her again,
"Here you go ma'am" and she quickly raced behind the counter so she wouldn't miss a beat of the conversation.
"So when is the next date Mary?", the waitress serving Margaret asked.
"Well he said he would call me, so I'm just waiting now", Mary replied this time with more excitement in her voice.
"OH you're so lucky Mary, just imagine you and THE Hawkeye Pierce, settling down together. Oh how sweet!", the girls continued to giggle. Mary walked out from the counter and Margaret watched her. She was young, around 25 she suspected, fairly tall with long blonde hair and brown eyes.
"Okay, girls break it up" Margaret heard Betsy say behind the counter. Betsy started talking with her daughter Jemima. "Now Jemima, I hope you girls weren't gossiping again about Dr Pierce. You know he is a very troubled man these days. I think Mary should watch herself, I don't think Hawkeye is exactly as easy going as he used to be. I know I wouldn't want you or your sister going out with him. As for settling down, I don't think that's possible. It would take one heck of a woman to con Hawkeye Pierce into holy matrimony. He used to be a lovely kid, he still is in many ways, but he's not the same as he used to be. I predict that poor Mary is going to be heartbroken. Hawkeye isn't interested in her, she was just a bit of fun dear, a fun ride, pardon the expression.
Margaret couldn't help but smile at Betsy's hypocrisy and honesty at the same time. How funny she thought it was that she reprimanded her employees for gossiping when she did exactly the same thing. Margaret couldn't understand why she was hurt by what the girls had said. At the same time she was relieved that he wasn't married or settling down. She knew that this Mary girl was purely for sex, as some of the nurses were at the 4077th. More so she was surprised at what Betsy had said about Hawkeye's personality.
It was time to start thinking about how to approach Hawkeye. Should she just ask where the Pierce residence is or should she just hope to run into Hawkeye at the local shops. She finished her breakfast and made her way back to her room. She needed to wear something nice, something that would get a reaction from Hawkeye. She burrowed into her suitcase and pulled out a chocolate brown suede skirt, with a pink shirt and matching brown jacket. She wore some black low high heels, brushed her hair and left it out and placed the matching soft hat on her head. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and decided it was a cute outfit considering it was winter and it was harder to look beautiful when you were all rugged up. She left the motel, not really knowing how she was going to do this. She was excited and nervous at the same time. She walked out along the pavement and down the main road. For a small town, it had quite a few shops, obviously all owned by locals. The town had everything you would ever need. No wonder people never left she thought. It was how she had pictured the dream like town. It was like one of those towns in the movies. Where everyone says hello and how are you. The shops lined the main street, whilst a few roads led to the wharves behind the shops and the beach. The beach had its own beauty as well. She could picture Hawkeye playing there as a young child with no worries in the world. As she walked along, some of the towns people looked at her funny, measuring her up, trying to identify who this beautiful blonde was. She kept walking down the street, and the row of shops ended. Next to the post office was small wooden cottage, very neatly presented in a shade of turquoise. A short pathway led to a few steps and up onto a small porch. The sign positioned on the small rectangle of green grass at the front read:
General Practitioner Dr. D. Pierce And then in smaller font underneath:
Afterhours: 18 Poplars Street Crabapple Cove Ph: 450 229
That must be their home residence Margaret thought. She walked back down to the motel to her room and looked at the map on the bedside table. Her heart was once again pounding. She couldn't believe she was just standing in front of Hawkeye's dad's surgery. She looked at the map carefully, trying to pin point Poplars Street. It was a winding road, which went up the peninsular and around the headland. It was a dead end and a very private street. According to the map it would take her approximately 20 minutes to walk up there. She put the map down, grabbed her bag and made her way up to 18 Poplars Street, Crabapple Cove.
NB: I know that wasn't the greatest chapter but I needed something in the middle if you know what I mean. Please continue to R & R! Chapter 4 should be up soon!
